Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-01-15
BATTLEFIELD OF SEVEN PINES.
Neglect of the Bone. of the sIain-u

I s~' oi tne Bones or the Siain-Thi
 Sale of Bogus Relies-A sharp Guide.
 It would be hard for any one who hac
 not gone over the ground of one of tho
 hottest battles ever fought to believe
 that twenty-four years afterward the
 bones of the slain lie half-hidden by
 leaves and brush by the score, and yet
 such Is the case. The theatre of the
 great but indecisive struggle at Seven
 Pines has been turned into a place
 where few men can reach financial
 proht by guiding visitors to the spot
 where skulls protrude from the ground,
 and where all that remains of many
 brave lads who are numbered among the
 missing lie. It is difficult to escape the
 guides, but it pays the visitor to make
 hls own way over the field of battle.
 He does not follow the beaten path in
 which those who gain money by exhib-
 lung the bones of the boys who died
 amid the roar of cannon and the rattle
 or musketry take their victims, and he
 Sains for himself positive information
 of the actual condition of things.
 A correspondent in company with
 several companions, slipped away from
 these guides and were mortified at what
 they found. Under the leaves and twigs,
 and among the thick brush of oak and
 pines, which had sprung up during
 the last twenty years, the bones of many
 brave men were found. They had an- swered to the order to charge the bat
 terles which stood on the other side of
 fna ri0N-aH gnNI r-s lives ere the outer intrenchment was taken. As night fell on the 30th of May, 1862, many of the boys failed to answer the roll-call and were placed among the missing. It was a partly cul- uvated field then. Now pines twenty feet in height cover the bloody ground, and even stand on the breastworks from behind which the cannons belchcd forth death, and where the marks of the wheels of the artil- lery are still visible. The bones of many of the fallen still lie there, although the flag which flies from the stan in the Seven Pines cemetery is within sight. Whether these bones were clothed in the blue or the gray is unknown, but many men are ready to testify that whoever was intrusted with the duty of collect ing those bones has failed in his trust.
 The reason for the failure is manifest. The fact that the bones still lie there attract many people to the field of carn- age, and every one that falls into the clutches of the guides must pay his toll. \ party of twenty-one, which included several men from Philadelphia and vicinity, had to pay Sj.25 for walking behind guide for an hour. This same | guide owns 700 acres of the land upon which the battle was fought He began | by purchasing one acre, for which he | paid B The same price was paid for | the remainder of the ground which he has bought, and every cent of the money | was eXtOrted from visitors to the battle field. He was ordered by the govern ment to pick up all the bones, disinter the buried soldiers and see that they | were removed tO the cemetery just | across the road. Instead of doing so he | has placed the skulls and other bones of | the dead in various places and guides the visitors by beaten paths tO.these | spots. He never takes them through | the thicket. Another dodge of this man | is to find battered musket-ban on the ground and sell it to the visitor for 90 | cents if he can, and for 10 cents if he | can get no more. The balls are dropped l by him when the visitor is not looking. | and picked up when he is looking. lt | bothers the man, however, when the the party he is guiding is large, and when he dropped the ball last Sunday afternoon the action was seen, and relic selling for that day was at Q very low ebb.
 This battlefield relic craze is carried to i great length. More balls and burst | bombs have been sold represented as having been picked up on the bloody ground of Seven Pines than there were lsed in the seven days battle. Battered Dayonets, rusty rifles, brass buckles and buttons all find ready sale. When the supply runs out the relic sellers get in some more. It is believed that they buy up old bayonets and bury them in the ground for a year. They come out rusty, and little battering and bending makes .he crOpas good as the original.
 Ten cents is charged for looking at room in which Gen. Mcclellan did not make his headquarters during the battle. No charge is made for looking at the bullet holes in the old house; but if the visitor happens to find a ball imbedded n the wood the guide will demand 2j cents for digging it out. The visitor caves with his prize and is ready to wear that 1t came from musket in he hands of a friend who died in that lattle. The general belief is-and a we'll lsed rifle which hangs in the kitchen bears out the idea-that the occupant )f the house shoots the balls into the in the winter and digs hem out in the summer. Pieces of ,omb are sold for 2j cents. A Philadel- lhia delegation to the general assembly ,f the Knights of Labor has piece of ,omb which he prized highly until some ,ne called his attention to the spout at ached to 1t, and then he tumbled to the 'act that he was carrying a piece of ten 1ettle. There is no doubt that the old louse was riddled with bullets during turing the fight, but they were all gone en years ago. It Is unsafe to buy any -elics on the Seven Pines battle field. The only thing the visitor is sure of is when he cuts the cane himself from the ground. Richmond (Na-) Cor. Philadcl- Dhia News.
 4 New English Paint.
 A new English paint is ordinarily of a brilliant re- color, but darkens as it IS heated, becoming quite brown at a tenn ,erature of 1SO degrees. As it cOOls 1t ,sgains its originaI redness. IL Is rec